


Welcome to SHIELD

by L_Moonshade



Series: Altered Realities [8]
Category: Highlander: The Series, Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-25
Updated: 2014-04-25
Packaged: 2018-01-20 18:21:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1520795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/L_Moonshade/pseuds/L_Moonshade
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's either the toughest job interview or the easiest interrogation either of them has ever been a part of. At least the booze is good.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Welcome to SHIELD

**Methos**

The moment Methos sat across the desk from Canton Everett Delaware III he saw the same calm, quiet demeanor he now associated with Coulson. This man, Methos thought, was going to keep him on his toes.

"Ashton Royce," Canton said. "That's not what Phil calls you, though."

Methos shrugged. "As far as the world knows, Adam Pierson is dead; I couldn't very well keep using that name. Will my lovely fiancée be joining us?"

"No," Canton said matter-of-factly. "Phil has told me—in more detail than was strictly necessary—how well you two work together. Now, I need to see how you work separately."

Methos frowned. "We came in with the understanding…"

"That you'll be going into the field together, and that's a condition I'll be happy to meet, but I need to know how you handle yourselves when you're on your own. We both know it's going to happen eventually, even if it's nothing more than your getting separated on an op. Besides, this is still a boy's game. Lang's going to have to prove herself, and she won't be able to do that with you standing over her shoulder acting like her bodyguard."

He didn't like it, but Methos had to concede that the director had a point. "I can see where Coulson gets it from."

"He's got some learning to do, but he's getting there. Fury says he remembers you from France. Are you as old as he is?"

"More or less."

Canton waited, but nothing else was forthcoming. "I'm not going to get a more specific answer, am I?"

Methos smirked. "I haven't stayed alive this long by getting sloppy."

"No, I suppose not." Canton leaned back with a sigh, pulled out the bottle he saved for his Immortal employees, and poured two drinks. "As I'm sure you've guessed, I don't normally meet personally with new recruits, but you have some information I need. Tell me about Pierce."

"He wasn't bad at playing Coulson. He only messed up on a couple of details that no one else would have noticed." Methos considered for a moment. "No one else with the possible exception of Tasha."

"You mean Lang? What did he mess up on?"

"He swore, he didn't react to something I said that Coulson would have known was wrong, and he dresses differently."

Canton blinked, then took a drink. "I'm not sure I need to know you pay that close attention to my son."

Methos gave an unapologetic smile, but any comment was lost in the gasp as he downed his shot. "What is that, and where can I get some?"

Canton smirked. "Never could pronounce it and no idea," Canton said, pouring a refill. "Wedding present from the Doctor and River. I keep it around for the few Immortals I have on the payrolls."

"Good present," Methos said. "I'm sorry I can't be more help when it comes to your other son."

"Not your fault."

"Have you spoken to him since?"

Canton shook his head. "No. He's thrown away both phones and emptied his bank accounts and gone off-grid; with or without help is anyone's guess. Do you know anything about the scepter?"

"Very little. According to Tasha it's related to Tesseract energy, though I never got close enough to test that for myself."

"Would you know if you saw it?"

"Only saw it, no. But if I got close enough…"

Methos trailed off, not wanting to give up too much. But Canton wasn't stupid and it didn't take him long to figure out where this was going. "You can sense it?"

"Yes. I never got closer to the Tesseract than HYDRA's weapons so I don't know if there's a difference in strength between them, but I'm willing to bet there is."

That, Canton thought, was not comforting in the least. "I don't suppose you know what that means?"

"I've been wondering that for fifty years and haven't gotten any closer to an answer. I'm not really the right person to ask, though."

"Why's that?"

"I don't really care. It's nothing more than a thought exercise to me, and not one that takes up an inordinate amount of my time."

"You don't want to know why you are the way you are?"

Methos shrugged. "What difference would it make? Even if I knew I'd still have to defend myself from head hunters, I'd still be older than I have any right to be, and I'd still have to watch too many of the people I love wither and die. It won't change anything. Don't get me wrong, if you find the answer and want to tell me I'll listen. But it's not that important to me."

"You're a strange man, Royce."

Methos gave a sardonic laugh. "Your perceptions on what's important change after a few decades."

Canton knew that—he was no spring chicken, himself—but then he didn't figure the other man still measured his life in anything short as decades. "If you think of anything else about Pierce, you'll let me know?"

"He killed a priest in an attempt to find the scepter. He's no longer the man you thought you knew, if he ever was."

Canton gave a weary sigh. "I know," he said, voice quiet. "Maybe I've always known. Phil could get along with just about anyone, but he never really got along with his own twin." He sat quiet for a moment, then shook himself out of his thoughts. "Thank you for the information."

Methos, knowing a dismissal when he heard one, drained his glass and stood. "I just wish I had more for you. Director." He went to the door, then paused. "I know what it's like to be betrayed by someone you thought you could trust. By family. I'm sorry."

That surprised Canton. "Thank you."

As Methos left, Canton sat back to think about everything that had been said. This round of new recruits was going to prove to be very interesting, indeed.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Kate**

"Natasha Lang," Canton said, studying Kate from across his desk. "That's not the name Phil gave me."

"Ah, but what name did the Doctor give you?"

"I have no idea who you're talking about."

Kate scoffed. "Let's not play coy. In 1969 you'd been kicked out of the FBI because you wanted to marry a black man but Nixon called you in because he was getting phone calls from a scared little girl, no matter where he was. You met the Doctor when he walked past Agent Peterson and into the Oval Office with a big blue box and three of his friends, and you helped lead a revolution against an alien occupation. And, if the man who played you back there is any indication, you looked damn sexy doing it. I know how you got this gig, Director, and you won't find me underestimating your knowledge base." Then she gave him a little smile. "Besides, I have no doubt that Agent Coulson told you what I told him about my origins."

Canton didn't bother pretending any longer than he didn't know. "How did you get here, then?"

"Another one of the Doctor's monsters, called Weeping Angels. They're quantum locked, so they can only move when no one is looking at them, and they send their victims back in time. Something about feeding off the energy of the possible future, I don't remember the exact technobabble. The one I met, though, sent me a lot farther."

Canton considered that for a moment, then pulled out two glasses and a bottle of something Kate didn't recognize. "Yeah," he said, pouring. "They sound almost as frightening as the Silence."

"Very much so." Kate knocked back the drink, gasping like it was her first shot of whiskey. "Holy shit, what the hell is that? I may actually be able to get drunk on it."

"No idea. Something alien, knowing the people who got it for me."

Kate thought about that for only a moment. "The Doctor and River Song?"

"The very same." He let her finish her second drink (she sipped it, this time), then broached the topic he most—and least—wanted to talk about. "Now. What can you tell me about the other Agent Coulson? Do you know anything about his plans, what he's up to?" He knew it was futile, but he had to ask.

"I'm pretty certain that he actually was after the scepter but other than that, no. Sorry."

"It's no more than I expected," he said, pulling out one more item; an X-Men comic book. "You don't show up, but according to Phil, this is your reality." He sighed, looking down at the comic. "Where Phil was a Captain America fan, this was Pierce's favorite title. I can't help but wonder if that has anything to do with his issues."

Kate paused, but determined that Canton was mostly joking. "Well, I know Logan—Wolverine—always was a bad influence on me. This is all his fault," she said, lighting a cigar.

"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Canton studied her for a moment. "How much do you know about Pierce?"

"Very little; he was never a character in any of my fictions."

"What can I read into that?"

"Absolutely nothing. The Doctor was a TV show—which is where you're from—and Royce and his ilk were a second show and some movies, none of which were really compliant with each other. Then there's SHIELD itself and HYDRA, Captain America, et al. Phil's from the movies mostly based on the Ultimate Marvel line of comic books which, in turn, were an alternate universe to the Marvel Prime. Then there's all the alternate universes to both of those, the What Ifs, retcons and new characters using old codenames… So, yeah. It's a whole big cluster fuck and nothing corresponds exactly to the fictions I knew."

"I don't know if that's comforting or not. What have you been able to figure out about Pierce, then?"

Kate took in a lungful of smoke to give herself a moment to choose her words.

Canton, seeing her hesitate, said, "Don't worry about sparing my feelings. I need to know."

Kate wasn't sure he'd feel that way when they were done, but it made things easier for her. "While I was at the Professor's school, Logan took me under his wing to help me learn how to interpret what my senses were telling me. Between that and my own experience, I know he's really not stable."

"Any idea why? I guess what I'm looking for, is there a way to get my boy back?"

"I don't know for sure, but depending on the answers to a couple of questions I may have some ideas. Why does Phil heal so quickly, and does Pierce have the same ability?"

Phil hadn't told him they'd seen that, Canton thought, and wondered if his son knew they had. "They both heal fast, yes. Peggy Carter was pregnant with their mother when Rogers put the plane down."

"I wondered. Question number two. Has Pierce shown any unstable tendencies in the past?"

"It's shown up in my family before. There were some issues—and certainly he learned to impersonate Phil in order to get out of trouble—but it never seemed pathological. Hell, my big sisters swapped places all the time. So what changed? Do you have any idea why he went off the rails now?"

"I literally could smell the crazy, which probably means he's been going downhill for a while. And Dr. Erskine said that the serum magnified what was already there, that good became better and bad became worse. Look what happened with Schmidt and Rogers."

"And you think that the genetic changes inherited from Rogers magnified a genetic defect that was already there, that propensity for pathological mental problems."

Kate shrugged. "I don't know for certain how the serum would affect someone who inherited the genetic changes of course—though it's obviously been diluted—but it could very well be that that's one of the effects that was passed down."

Canton studied her for a long moment then took a drink. "I'm going to have to keep you here just to know you're on my side. You are a scary, scary woman."

"You say the sweetest things."

Canton huffed laughter, but the good humor didn't last. "If what you're saying is the case, there's probably nothing we can do for him."

"Not unless you can find Erskine's notes and even then, I wouldn't be too hopeful. I'm sorry, Canton. I really hope I'm wrong."

Canton sighed. "So do I, but I'm afraid you're not. It makes too much sense. Have you told Phil any of this?"

"We haven't talked much since Paris, and what little we have… Well, he didn't want to talk about it much. Not that I blame him."

"I wish I had that luxury," Canton sighed, scrubbing a hand over his face. "Pierce threw away his phones—both the SHIELD-issue and his personal—and cleared out the one bank account we know about, so it doesn't look like he's planning on coming back. Can you tell me anything about the scepter? If we know what it is, we may be able to figure out what he's planning."

"I don't know much, just that it's related to the Tesseract. Whether that means powered by or just runs off the same energy… Well, your guess is as good as mine."

"How can you be so sure?"

Kate tapped her nose. "It smells the same."

Canton's eyes narrowed. "When have you had a chance to smell the Tesseract?"

"I haven't. Did Phil tell you about seeing us at Comi-Con?"

Canton huffed. "Oh, yes. That's when I started wondering if it was just coincidence, or if you were trying to get noticed."

Kate nodded. "The HYDRA goon ran past me carrying a Tesseract weapon. Close enough that I was able to catch a whiff."

"And you're certain that you were smelling the Tesseract, and not energy in general?"

"Positive. I've only smelled it once before."

"Immortals? Royce mentioned he could sense it."

Kate nodded. "I should've known you would know about that. Yes, it smells like a Quickening."

"What does that mean?"

"Once again, your guess."

"Yeah. I'm surprised you haven't asked why Royce isn't here."

Kate shrugged. "Always interrogate people separately."

That surprised a bark of laughter out of Canton. "This isn't an interrogation, Ms. Lang, this is nothing more than an intake interview. I know you and Royce came in with the understanding that you'll be going into the field together—and even though I shouldn't be making a guarantee like that, I am—but I want you and Royce to go through training separately. You're going to have to make a name for yourself if you want to be taken seriously."

Kate nodded. "I can go with that."

"I thought so. You seem to be a smart woman." He waited until she finished her drink then took the glass back. "You've given me more information than I had. Thank you for your candor."

"I'm a parent, too. I know I'd want to know where my daughter went wrong. If that's all, Director?"

"Yeah. Go get some rest before you start training." He let her get to the door before saying, "And Lang. Phil doesn't know Rogers is his grandfather."

Kate glanced back at him with a smirk. "You may not have told him, but I wouldn't be at all certain that means he doesn't know."

Canton let her go, smiling once the door had shut. People were always underestimating his boys. It would do Phil good to deal with someone who had his number.


End file.
